Chandler, Storley winners at Bellator 197

Two former collegiate wrestlers who earned a combined five NCAA All-American honors -- Michael Chandler, and Logan Storley -- came out on top at Bellator 197 in suburban St. Louis Friday night.

Chandler, who was an All-American at the University of Missouri, choked Brandon Gritz unconscious in the first round of their lightweight (155-pound) co-main event at The Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo. … while Storley, a four-time All-American for the University of Minnesota, scored a unanimous decision over hometown hero Joaquin Buckley in their three-round welterweight (170-pound) fight, 30-27, 30-26, 30-26.

Chandler puts foe to sleep

Michael Chandler, who wrestled at Northwest High School in suburban St. Louis before becoming a Mizzou Tiger mat star, submitted Girtz -- a replacement for injured Bellator lightweight champ Brent Primus -- at the four-minute mark of the opening round.

Here's now Sherdog.com described the action: "After a stalemate developed on the feet, Chandler swooped in for a takedown, moved to the mounted crucifix position and softened the Trevor Wittman protégé with ground-and-pound. He then made a lightning-quick transition to the arm-triangle, tightened his squeeze and waited for Girtz to go limp."

With the win, the 31-year-old Chandler -- a two-time former Bellator lightweight champ -- is now 18-4 since launching his pro mixed martial arts career in August 2008, and has improved to 15-4 in Bellator competition, while Girtz dropped to 15-8 overall, and 7-6 in Bellator bouts.

Logan Storley (Photo/Bellator)

Storley maintains flawless fight record

Logan Storley -- who wrestled at the same high school in South Dakota (Webster) and same college (Minnesota) as former UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar -- tallied yet another win at Bellator 197 to build on his perfect professional MMA career started in August 2015.

"Logan Storley was never in danger of losing his undefeated record because he never gave Joaquin Buckley a chance to get in the fight," according to MMAJunkie.com.

"It was a performance that was effective, if not the most exciting display of MMA," MMAJunkie continued. "Storley wasted no time in charging across the octagon to take down Buckley, who was ill-equipped to stop the takedown against the fence. After half a round, Buckley succeeded in getting to his feet, only to be slammed back to the mat. Storley then advanced to mount and pounded away, suggesting a finish was imminent. But Buckley managed to avoid the worst of the damage, as he would do for the remainder of the fight."

BloodyElbow.com weighed in with its assessment: "Any time it appeared as if Buckley was going to scramble back to his feet, Storley dragged him right back down to the ground. Rinse and repeat was the theme of the rest of the round, with Storley's wrestling pedigree proving to be too much for Buckley."

With the win, the 25-year-old Storley is now 8-0 overall in his pro career, and 3-0 since signing with Bellator ... while Buckley fell to 8-2 overall, and is now 3-2 in Bellator.